A raft of sleek, minimalist wellbeing devices are hitting the market under the banner of ‘calm technology’, offering physical and emotionally attuned benefits. Next-gen healthcare pairs medical-grade functionality with lifestyle aesthetics, with comfort increasingly important for wearables. AI-enabled intuitive home tech focuses on rounded shapes, gentle colour and glowing light.

As seen at CES 2026, tech is entering a joyful era, with manufacturers embracing bold colour and pattern, feel-good textures, and richly satisfying functionality – see our S/S 2027 direction Assemble. Robots get a friendly, tactile upgrade, and cute, lo-fi-leaning kids’ tech and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) kits help parents prolong smartphone-free childhoods.

Transparent tech aesthetics capture the nostalgia of 80s and 90s gaming and hardware, blending playful clear plastics, visible engineering and tactile analogue controls. Merging vintage hardware with modern AI functionality offers appeal for all age groups.

Elevated aesthetics, rich colour and refined forms inform a new generation of sculptural  consumer electronics more akin to decorative objets d’art than functional gadgets. Categories enjoying innovation include AI-controlled lighting, routers and smartphones, while increasing uptake in outdoor entertaining is driving elevated aesthetics in the outdoor speaker market.

Smart glasses are a fast-growing category, with tech brands collaborating with luxury eyewear brands to offer fashion-forward aesthetics. By 2033, the global wearable AI category could be worth $287.8bn, up from $35.72bn in 2025 (Sky Quest, 2025). Meanwhile, a new era of wearable tech merges high-fidelity audio with chic jewellery design, from earbuds to smart rings and punky chain necklaces.

Innovative brands and designers are exploring craftsmanship in a digital age, with references ranging from Ancient Greece to the Victorian Arts and Crafts movement. Contemporary electronic devices feature artisanal techniques borrowed from wooden cabinetry and automotive design, offering a wealth of inspiration for luxury colour, materials and finish. 

Designers are responding to global waste challenges and the electronics industry’s excessive use of energy and resources with pioneering circular materials and sustainable biobased composites. A recent EU-funded study by ToxFree Life for All uncovered potentially hazardous, endocrine-disrupting substances in 100% of tested consumer headphones, prompting renewed interest in reducing the environmental and health impacts of everyday tech products.

A new wave of open-source, home-made tech assembled from recycled found items is tailored to individual consumer needs and stylistic preference. The cyberdeck movement is having a female-led resurgence, with activist energy underpinning a need to take back control, upskill, and better understand technology. Key aesthetics include exposed electronics, visible systems and transparent shells.